Chapter 658 Railway Construction Begins
On this day, the first group of Armenians arrived in Basra. On the same day, the Southern Cross flag was officially raised from Sheffield's Middle East territory. For Christians in the Middle East, their destiny will change from today.
Sheffield didn't know whether Israel would still appear, but he believed that from the perspective of a troublemaker, after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the independent territory could become the spiritual homeland of Christians in the Middle East.
Why did he say that? Because he had heard that many Armenians burst into tears when they saw the flag of the former confederate state.
There are only a few flags in the world. In Europe and the United States, there are two main flags. One is the tricolor flag promoted by France, and the other is the cross flag. In addition to the orthodox cross-like flag, there are other variants of the cross flag. Even the national flag of Germany is one of the variants of the cross flag. The Southern Cross flag of the Confederate States of America is similar to the cross flag represented by Scotland, which looks like a big X.
"The territory of Kuwait will become the home of Christians in the Middle East. Sometimes the evolution of history is interesting. Western Europe was once just a peripheral area of Christianity, but now it has become the center of Christianity. To be honest, the orthodoxy of Imperial Russia was much stronger than that of Western Europe today." Sheffield was quite pleased with the reaction of the Armenians.
When Natalia heard the recognition of the orthodoxy of the Russian Empire, she was immediately happy. Her man was just unusual. "Some people have always rejected Russians and Russian culture."
"How can you unite your own people if you don't label the Russians? But when the time comes, they will remember the benefits of Russia. The real important thing in the Allied Alliance is Russia. To be honest, your country has always been used in history." Sheffield shrugged and said, "Compared with the British, Eastern European countries are still a little too simple."
The slave owner did not show his desire to survive in front of Mao Mei, he really believed it. Take the Middle East today, for example, which country really wants to restore the glory of the Roman Empire and rescue the oppressed Christians in the Middle East? Britain and France are just taking advantage of it, but the Russian Empire is really determined to accomplish this task and take back Constantinople.
When the First World War broke out and Germany was advancing westwards to attack France, the Russian Empire, despite its vast territory and slow mobilization efficiency, forcibly ordered its frontline troops to attack Germany, forcing Germany to withdraw its troops from the Western Front to defend the country. This broke the Germans' idea of a quick victory and cutting France's throat.
On the contrary, the Russian Empire was surrounded and endured the attacks of the Allied Powers alone. The slave owners believed that Russia was more reliable than any other country when it was reliable. The key was that no one knew when this country was reliable.
What senior German fans, French wives, Ottoman Pashas, the slave owners have revealed their cards today, and only Russia can be looked at differently.
"Is it just like you label black people? Are you taking care of the emotions of white people in the country?" Natalia was very smart and immediately thought of something.
"Labeling is the easiest way to create stereotypes. Black people are barbaric and stupid, while yellow people are smart and cunning, and they are ambitious. White people are of course pure, noble, and kind. From a national perspective, Western European countries are smaller in land area and population than Eastern Europe, especially since the Slavs have the Russian Empire as their backing, so Russians must be stigmatized to unite non-Slavic ethnic groups. When it comes to each country, mutual attacks become even more complicated. You should know the image of us Dixies in the eyes of the Yankees, right? You also know that the Yankees in my heart are all stupid."
Sheffield cited three aspects of race, country and region to give Mao Mei examples of labeling, and added, "Religion is also acceptable, and in the Middle East, religion is especially important. Of course, it is not appropriate now, and we will see in a few years."
The labels attached to the later generations of peace religions are well known, and so are those attached to Hinduism: the former is cruel and the latter is stupid. Don't you see who controls world public opinion?
Compared with these two labels of incompetence and rage, the labels on the Republic are nothing. At least it is recognized as a capable enemy.
In the Middle East, where the Church of Peace is definitely dominant, Kuwait could easily be overwhelmed if it does not label the Church of Peace and consolidate the Christian faith. So the slave owners are also thinking about how to label the main faith here.
There are examples. The labels for Sunni and Shia must be different. There are still some heresies in Syria that are the result of the integration of Christians and peaceful believers, such as Alawites and Druze. These can all be used.
"Why don't we build an onion-shaped church first? Don't worry about anything. Make it the largest and most spectacular church in the Middle East. Maybe Kuwait will become a holy place for Christians in the Middle East. You have seen many Orthodox churches in Texas. Greeks and Armenians happen to believe in Orthodox Christianity."
When the first group of people arrived, Sheffield immediately began to take action on the issue of faith. He started his own territory color change plan, and Texas in this time and space happened to provide experience in this regard.
Moreover, in the eyes of Christians in the Middle East, the Russian Empire has a very good reputation, which is completely different from that in Western Europe. Even Christians in the Middle East and the Balkans know that Britain and France are unreliable. If they want to get out of trouble, they can only rely on the Russian Empire.
The two ethnic groups that were relocated happened to believe in the Orthodox Church, so the Kuwaiti territory naturally had to rely on the Orthodox Church to unite the people. In the long run, if the Russian Empire finally collapsed, this place could still accept a group of White Russians to disgust the Soviet Union, the biggest rival of the United States, and maybe it would play a role in the outcome of the Cold War.
"Stop kissing me, my skin will peel off." Sheffield could only avoid Natalia's enthusiasm. Since the policy of focusing on Orthodox Christianity was planned, Mao Mei has burst out with great enthusiasm. My waist has been a little sore these days!
Although this standard pillow talk is very useful, as a middle-aged man, the slave master can hardly bear it.
Before leaving Kuwait, Sheffield determined how the Kuwait territory would be run. The territory would be based on the Orthodox faith. Christians from the Middle East would be absorbed. From now on, it would be operated militaristically, organized based on the militias of the southern states, and closely monitor the British and the Arabs they bribed.
Once the situation changes, they can take the initiative to start the attack. This is of course to prepare for the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire could not survive after World War I. Even if it did not participate in World War I, this is a very sad fact.
To be honest, the situation faced by the Ottoman Empire was much more serious than that of the Qing Dynasty. The geographical location determined that the Ottoman Empire would not become a great power, and its end would be very miserable. Unfortunately, the Ottoman Empire did not have a tradition of centralization.
Centralized states certainly have advantages. First, the ability to suppress will be greatly improved, making it easier to mobilize the power of the whole country to fight wars and maintain domestic stability. The Ottoman Empire could not do these things!
Even if the Ottoman Empire did not participate in the World War, the European powers would not let this country go. In fact, before the outbreak of the war, the territory of the Ottoman Empire had already been divided up by the Allies. Joining the Allies in the World War was a move by the pro-German faction of the Ottoman Empire to survive.
As for how much Sheffield was able to plunder in the Arab-dominated areas of the Mesopotamian region after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, it is still unknown. But as a greedy slave owner, he felt that it would be best to include Basra and Kuwait, and then incorporate the coastal areas of Qatar and Bahrain.
In this way, about 35% of the world's oil production is under his control, and he is one step closer to the goal of becoming the ultimate producer. The Persian Gulf region is not only rich in oil resources, but also has excellent mining conditions. Oil is concentrated. At present, except for the oil wells found on the border between Iraq and Persia, no oil has been found in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Qatar in later generations. The British are still wandering around in Iraq, and they didn't expect the oil line in the Persian Gulf to be so long.
"You want to do your old business again!" Sheffield sighed, and the old business he was talking about was naturally labor transfer. Unfortunately, there was no good target group.
Two months after arriving in Kuwait, Sheffield finally decided to temporarily leave the territory because he had received news that the negotiations between Britain and Germany on the Baghdad Railway had made decisive progress. The Germans agreed that Britain would enter the management of the railway and share the benefits brought by the railway. They also agreed that the Baghdad Railway would not be built to the seaside, but would end in Basra.
After hearing this news, the slave owners knew they had to leave, otherwise the annoying British would come knocking again. In October 1913, Germany officially announced the news that the Baghdad Railway had officially started construction.
On this day, Sheffield returned home by ship. At the same time, the railway materials he was responsible for had set sail from a port in the United States, heading for the Persian Gulf.
(End of this chapter)
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